Robert McKinley, Senior Analyst/Editor
Robert McKinley is an analyst of the payments industry on a daily basis for 32 years covering payment cards and payment systems from both the business side and the consumer side. McKinley is the retired founder and chief executive of RAM Research, CardWeb and CardTrak. In his prior position, McKinley has participated in more than 10,000 documented news media interviews, testified as an expert witness in two separate $billion+ U.S. anti-trust trials, testified before the U.S. Congress, assisted the GAO with paymentsIMG_2006 (1).jpeg reports, chaired numerous business conferences and provided C-Suite opinion to a multitude of Fortune 500 companies. In retirement, he has continued developing and funding digital media assets as well as contributing payments related analysis/content to a broad list of online publishers, including CardFlash, CardTrak and CardData. McKinley is also a national certified mentor with the non-profit SCORE organization with a focus on assisting Fintech startups. www.robert-mckinley.com

Early stage delinquency (30+ days) among the nation’s top 6 issuers rose sharply by 15 basis points (bps) sequentially in the third quarter (3Q/16) to 1.89%, and up 12 bps above last year’s 1.77%, according to CardData. Five of the Big 6, including Chase, Bank of America, Capital One. American Express, and Discover, posted higher…

Mastercard has ankled Shamina Singh, president of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, to assume oversight of the company’s sustainability efforts in addition to her current responsibilities. In this newly created role, Singh will lead the creation and execution of a sustainability strategy, taking into consideration how the company operates in the current social, cultural…

PayPal’s Xoom, a specialist in digital money transfer, is expanding its service in Asia, making it easier for people in the U.S. to quickly and securely send money to Japan. Xoom is partnering with Queen Bee Capital, a provider of overseas transfer services, to offer customers a fast bank deposit service to major banks in…

Wirecard’s Star Global Currency Exchange received an upgrade of its license issued by Reserve Bank of India to Authorized Dealer in Foreign Exchange (Category II). The earlier license was a Full Fledged Money Changers (FFMC) Licensee with limited authority to deal only in buying and selling foreign currencies, traveller cheques and prepaid cards for travel…

A new report finds within a decade, value capture and creation will steer the payments industry as innovative start-ups unbundle the existing logistics supply chain, focusing on certain aspects of it and breaking down the value chain. Using novel business models that are app- or marketplace-based with online brokerage services and aggregated end-to-end visibility across…

The charge-off rate, seasonally adjusted (SA), among the top 100 U.S. banks for the third quarter (3Q/16) increased 8 basis points (bps) sequentially (QTQ), and up 11 bps year-on-year (YOY). On a not seasonally adjusted basis (NSA), the charge-off rate among the top 100 U.S. banks for 2Q/16, dropped 26 bps QTQ and up 12…

The 30+ day delinquency rate, seasonally adjusted (SA), among the top 100 U.S. banks for the third quarter (3Q/16) increased 10 basis points (bps) sequentially (QTQ), and up 19 bps year-on-year (YOY). On a not seasonally adjusted basis (NSA), the delinquency rate among the top 100 U.S. banks for 3Q/16, soared 24 bps QTQ and…

UK-based cryptocurrency CLOAKCOIN is ready to take on the so-called anon coin market currently being dominated by the latecomers like Monero, ZCash, and others. There are also examples of many people abusing the anon coin market to turn it into an “easy come, easy go” market by creating Ponzi-like schemes around it. These fraudulent actions on…

The global mobile wallet market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 35% YOY by 2021. Among grocery stores the growth is expected to exceed 46% CAGR. According to Technavio in a report titled ‘Global Mobile Wallet Market 2017-2021’ the global mobile wallet market is broken up in five major application segments.…

Australian credit card outstandings rose by 1.6% year-on-year (YOY) in October. Credit card credit limits increased 2.3% YOY and the number of credit card accounts rose 2.6% YOY in October. The average balance per account in October declined 1.0% YOY to AU$3070, compared to AU$3074 for September, and AU$3102 for October 2015. Credit card outstandings for…

Among this year biggest payments innovations and product introductions is First Data’s new Clover Go “All-In-One” reader. It is the first fully integrated payment card reader that accepts payments via card swipes, EMV and NFC transactions (including Apple Pay, Android Pay & Samsung Pay) all through a single device. Beyond its convenient all-in-one functionality,…